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Hey there fellow Cougars! Back in August, I put up a poll about where you wanted BYU to end up: Indy, Big 12, or some other BCS conference. The results were that 40% that voted wanted to go to the Big 12, and just under 35% were in favor of remaining independent (the rest favoring a different BCS conference).

I would like to know if your feelings have changed, while at the same time narrowing the choices to just two.

Given the opportunity to make the decision today, and given whatever knowledge you have regarding the possible scenarios, would you choose for BYU to remain independent, or go to the Big 12?

If you have really good reasons for feeling the way you do, please comment below.

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4 thoughts on “Fan Poll: Independence or Big 12?”

I think BYU should run to the Big 12. The worst thing for them is to be left out of the money of a BCS conference. Unless they start putting BYU football on tithing slips they won’t get another chance at this type of prestige.

Originally, I was pro Independent. I’ve loved the news we get of new matchups in the future. Independence allows us to have vastly different lineups each year. Fans love that. It’s variety. A couple conference games were fun to play each year. But some were “meh”. Such as the New Mexico game. Some of those would be nice to play every other year maybe. We only had 4 OOC games, and one of those was usually USU, leaving only 3 games for variety every season. And often one of those 3 was filled up with a pancake team. Before all of this superconference stuff got going again this year, we had announcements of scheduling Notre Dame, Texas, Georgia Tech, Houston, Hawaii, Boise St., West Virginia, and rumors of others coming. Granted that we can still fit most of these into our OOC games if we were in the B12 since they’re spread out over the years. But we would only have 3 OOC games. And UofU and USU would take up 2 of those. Not much variety at all. The only other variety would be switching up the 3 cross-divisional games we’d play within the conference. Gone would be our attraction to our national fanbase. How often would we be playing down in Florida or East Coast? Maybe once in 10 years? As Indy, we’ve also had flexibility with ESPN. TCU needed a sheduling partner for 2011, and lo and behold here comes ESPN with BYU to the rescue – and hey let’s play it at Jerry World. BYU won’t be able to be ESPN’s show pony as much in B12.

Depending on negotiations, use of BYUtv to rebroadcast games could change. Hopefully not. Hopefully our existing ESPN/BYUtv contract gets worked into any invite. Shoot the B12 could probably benefit from some of the revenue of such a plan already existing with ESPN. I also hope that any BYU games that were broadcast on LHN could be rebroadcast on BYUtv. Who in Utah is really going to buy the LHN package?

Now, the reason I’ve change to be pro-B12 is mainly all of this conference realignment. It sure looks like Superconferences are inevitable. Larry Scotts decision to reject OU may have staved it off for a year or two more. But we’re not done by a long shot. Even coaches and ADs within the PAC admit that they need to keep themselves open to the idea of expansion if other conferences start making moves. With superconferences and BYU remaining Indy, we all know they would be on an island. Teams within superconferences would have very very few opportunities for OOC games. And most of those would probably be scheduled with other superconferences. BYU would have to resort to schedule all of their games with the “left-behinds” from MWC, WAC, CUSA, BE (assuming it crumbles), etc. Not that it would matter at that point, becaue any team outside of these superconferences would not be included in any purported playoff system. So without access to this playoff system and without access to marquee matchups, I believe BYU’s fanbase would diminish. We all know this would cause a lesser revenue from football which is one of the few athletic programs that supports the rest of athletics at BYU. So with less revenue, there is a good change BYU’s athletic program could be pulled all together and they would have to resort to intramurals. What a sad day that would be for all the alumni, fans, students, and future students.

So if indeed SCs is where this is all headed, BYU needs to get in – whatever it takes. If somehow SCs are staved off and we resurrect tradition in college football – and if Notre Dame remains Indy, then BYU is basically in the same position they’ve been in this year, and can remain Indy as well. But we all know the signs have been pointing a different direction for a while. Investigations into the BCS being threatened, programs receiving sanctions for giving benefits to student athletes, money, greed. I fear a tide has been unleashed that can’t be held back. These people want their $ and they’ll find a way to get it. And reluctantly, BYU needs to be a part of it.

I like the idea of playing games around the country each year so that the fan base can see the Cougars live but the reality is an independent will have a hard time getting home games and it is tough to have a good record when playing on the road. Look at Wisconsins schedule – 8 home games and 4 away games. Look at San Jose State with only 5 home games and 7 on the road. BYU needs to get into the Big 12 so that good teams come to Provo and BYU can play 7 or 8 home games every year.

All I can say is that if we did turn down an invite, we better have some great home and home games in the pipeline. There are some really nice things about independence. I am able to watch all of the games (aside from OSU…). But if it is going to be a home schedule of SJSU’s every year, it is going to get old really fast. Plus, if we did join the Big12, I would be able to attend some games each year since they are closer to where I live.